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We, the Ulama[1] of North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sharif Kabunsuan, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato,Sarangani Province, General Santos City, Davao City, Davao Provinces, Zamboanga del Sur, and Cotabato City, having gathered for the regional consultative forum of the “Empowering the Ulama of the Philippines” project[2];

Deeply alarmed about the fragile peace situation in Mindanao aggravated by the controversies surrounding the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domains (MOA-AD) between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF);

ERMITA: Good afternoon. Thank you, Undersecretary Crisostomo. I’d like to read out a press statement which I prepared in connection with the ongoing situation in Mindanao dated August 20.

“President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is angered and deeply frustrated by the treacherous acts committed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that has now clouded the prospects on early positive conclusion of the peace process between government and the MILF. The President detests the MILF leadership’s lack of control over its so-called base commands particularly on the actions in Lanao del Norte of its field commanders namely Umbra Kato and Bravo, which resulted in the death of innocent civilians and the displacement of thousands from their communities.

URGENT APPEAL from the Convenors of the Bishops-Ulama Conference
10:20 A.M.
20 August 2008

We, the undersigned convenors of the Bishops-Ulama Conference, most earnestly and urgently appeal to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and to the Central Committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to put an immediate STOP to the fighting between their respective combatants, to order them back to their barracks and headquarters, to release captives and hostages, and to arrive at an immediate ceasefire agreement

Mrs. Arroyo’s policy-shift in her administration’s peace negotiations to ‘disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation’ will spell more disaster than bring about peace especially in Mindanao.

Already, Malacañang has hinted at reneging on with its Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front through a policy of ‘review’ and ‘non-renegotiation.’ Now, government reportedly wants to directly relate with communities, side-stepping revolutionary organizations if they refuse to lay down their arms.

(A Statement from the Office of Anak Mindanao Party List Representative Mujiv S. Hataman on the Privilege Speech of Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin)

When the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front caused a wave of protests among different sectors of society, we feared the resurging of anti-Moro discrimination and prejudice.

Though we believed that the said Memorandum of Agreement could have been a major breakthrough in the peace process, we adhered and respected the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the SupremeRead more…

PRIVILEGE SPEECH AGAINST POSTPONEMENT OF ARMM ELECTION AND THE GRP-MILF MOA |
By Representative Teodoro Locsin
4 August 2008

My classmate, Digs Dilangalen says, let us approach this issue calmly. That is easy to do for one who stands to gain an entirely new country. It is harder to do for a citizen of the country at whose expense that gain shall be made.

TOMORROW the Government of the Republic of the Philippines will sign with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the country that was funding the secessionist struggle in the South, a peace agreement. It is styled as an innocuous “MOA” (memorandum of agreement), supposedly on just the subject of ancestral domain. In truth, it shall be part of a comprehensive peace agreement whose details are, however, also spelled out in the MOA, which, for all intents and purposes, gives away the very vitals of a sovereign country, a republic and a democracy to boot.

In fact, the MOA also styles itself as “a treaty,” which can only be between sovereign countries.